Chosen in Him

“[H]e chose us in him before the foundation[i] of the world….” (Eph. 1:4) God foresaw and foreknew us and had plans for us from the beginning.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them. (Ps. 139:16)

God has brought you to this place; or more accurately, God foreknew you in this place. Whether you feel like you have been following God, God has been leading you, or you are just wandering in the wilderness, you are where God knew you would be from before the creation of the world when God chose you.

We think in terms of home and destination, but the fact is that we are on a journey. We are not home, and our destination is not a place that we can get to on our own.

Abraham knew this. When God told him to go to a land that God promised, Abraham simply went. He did not question. He proceeded immediately to pack up and go. This was no small task. Abraham had many possessions, servants and things. It must have been quite an effort and quite a sight.

It is easy to miss the fact that, when Abraham arrived in the promised land, he lived there like a stranger. He dwelt in tents. (Heb. 10:9) He never did treat the land God promised as a home – not because Abraham doubted; not because the land was not the land that God promised; but Abraham knew there was something else, something better – “he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10)

This life is not our destination. There is a city whose maker is God. There are rooms awaiting us, but they are not in this life. God chose you for Himself before He even created the world. This place where you find yourself God knew you would be at this time, but it is not the place where you are going.

God is just waiting for you to realize that you should be about His purpose and to find your place in His purpose in this journey called life.

It was all planned out from the beginning for us “to be holy and blameless before Him”. (Eph. 1:4) He chose us, but there is more to it than that….

Jesus was also chosen before the creation of the world. (1 Pet. 1:20) From the beginning of time, God the Father chose us, and He chose Jesus, who would appear at the appointed time and lay down His life for us so that out faith and our hope are in God (1 Pet. 1:21), not in ourselves.

We are holy and blameless, not of our own doing, but by the providential work of a Holy God who provided the way for us to have fellowship with Him. He made the way for us to be elevated to His nature – not by our own knowledge and being, as Satan tempted Eve in the garden (“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5); not by our striving or doing (lest anyone boast (Eph. 2:9); but by the grace of God.

Take heart, and stand firm in faith and in confidence in God’s who is faithful to complete the work He began in you.

Thank you! Thank you Father God! How precious are Your thoughts toward me! How incredible that you foreknew me and chose me to be in You. How great are Your thoughts! This life and all its allure, all of its pain and all that it has to offer is nothing compared to You. Your kingdom come!Your will be done!

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[i]2602/Katabole means foundation, plan (from 2596/kata – “exactly according to,” down as extending from the most general to the most specific detail, “following all the way along” – and 906/ballo, meaning “to cast”); properly, a foundation, cast according to a blueprint (original design), i.e. the substructure which determines the entire direction (destination) of all the follows; the foundation-plan upon which the entire super-structure is built; figuratively, the beginning (founding) which also purposefully designs all that follows. Typically, katabole refers to Christi’s incarnation – His coming to earth in the flesh as the Redeemer

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